Pansexuality: the sexual option beyond gender roles

The world is riddled with sexual orientations what are still taboo (at best) or directly reason for punishment (at worst). However, the fact that in many cultures the freedom of individuals to be attracted to By whoever they want it does not mean that all these orientations are coming out equally and receiving the same attention.

To realize this, it is enough to see how many people are familiar with the concept of pansexuality.

What is Pansexuality?

We were able to see a simulation of the typical reaction to the definition of pansexuality in one of the last (and worst) seasons of the British series Skins. One of the characters, Franky fitgerald, he was questioned about his sexual orientation at a time that had to appear on the podium of the most interesting sequences of the season (note the quality level).

The answer, which the fuzzy companions of hers had to accept as good and which could not be developed much more either textually or narratively, was this: I'm into people. This sentence is very short, but it can help you get a basic notion about what it means to be labeled as

pansexual.

What is a pansexual person like?

Let's start with the easy thing: starting from a type of sexual orientation that is not very hegemonic to define an even less hegemonic sexual orientation. Take for example the homosexuality.

Coincidence or not, homosexuality is founded on a distinction between two sexes, just as the form of sexual orientation that has overshadowed it for centuries does: heterosexuality. Both homosexuals and heterosexuals divide society into sexes to determine which one is potentially attractive.

Pansexual people, however, do not take into account the variable "sex", or at least they feel this way when attending to the criteria by which they are attracted to one or another person. This means that although a pansexual woman may find another woman attractive, her preferences cannot be described. placing it on a scale with the extremes “greater tendency towards heterosexuality” or “greater tendency towards homosexuality”, because rejects the distinction between male and female that makes sense of that measurement tool.

Pansexuality is simply a sexual orientation that is not governed by those parameters.

So pansexuality and bisexuality are the same?

Not at all, although it is possible that there are people who declare themselves bisexual due to ignorance of the idea of ​​pansexuality. They are similar sexual orientations, since question the male / female dichotomy and its relationship to sexual attraction, but there are nuances that keep them separate.

Someone bisexual is, in short, someone who can be attracted to people of both sexes. However, bisexual people define people's sex by associating a gender burden with it: women are feminine and men masculine. It is important to bear this in mind because, although being attracted to both sexes can question the value of this criterion, bisexuals continue to recognize the existence of gender associated with sex as something important.

The difference between bisexuality and pansexuality is that in the latter it does not play an essential role either gender, that is, the set of roles, attitudes and behaviors that are considered masculine or female. Someone pansexual does not take into account neither the sex of a subject nor the way in which her behavior is more or less conformed to one gender or another. He is simply attracted to people.

No, that cliché does not occur in pansexuals either

Pansexual people consider that both sex and gender are empty conceptsBut that does not mean that they are attracted to everyone. That myth according to which someone who is attracted to people of the same sex is attracted to everyone is also false in the case of pansexuality. Someone who defines himself according to this sexual orientation is perfectly capable of feeling little attraction (sexual or of any kind) for the vast majority of people, and it will not for that reason cease to enjoy the company of a few individuals, regardless of their genders and sexes.

In that sense, it is possible that pansexuality implies more openness towards people's sexual appreciation, but no more openness towards all individuals in particular. This is an important nuance.

A silenced sexual orientation

Pansexuality may be a more romantic idea than homosexuality or heterosexuality, but it is also more shocking, more revolutionary. It is a challenge for the categories of sex and gender, and for that reason it is a difficult orientation to understand. It is not something that can easily become folklore, as the stereotypes of the gay community, and therefore it is also more difficult to recognize, make visible, and fill in with good amounts of cliches Y marketing.

Maybe that's why, ironically, it is possible that here and there pansexuality is believed to be a fashion, a way to seek the attention of others. Perhaps that is why, even today, there are many people unable to assimilate the idea that it is possible to feel attracted to people, without more.

Bibliographic references:

• Aponte Carías, Yllelyna (2009). I am pansexual and I do not discriminate. Available in: http://www.gaceta.udg.mx/Hemeroteca/paginas/573/G573_COT%209.pdf
• Serrano Ruiz-Calderón, José Miguel. (1994). Ideology and bioethics: The case of pansexualism. Available in: http://aebioetica.org/revistas/1994/1-2/17-18/19.pdf